Love thy neighbor
by AwaitTheRise
Summary: She just had to go and dump Sasuke right before prom, didn't she. Well, whatever, at least she had a hot new neighbor to keep her company. AU


"I can't believe you bought a dress without me!"

Sakura rolled her eyes; Ino got upset about the silliest things.

"Sorry pig, It's not like I was really looking, you know. I just saw it and knew that it was _the one_."

Ino sniffed. "Well, send me a picture the minute you get home." Sakura smiled and pushed open the door. "Sure, pig. If it'll make you feel any better I'll help you look for yours." Ino's eyes lit up. "You better!" They glanced at each other, and laughed. Like there was ever a chance that Ino hadn't been planning to drag her out anyways.

Sakura glanced at her phone and frowned. "I have to go, the bus is leaving in a minute."

She shut her locker with an _clang _almost unheard through the chatter. "Sure forehead, just don't forget to send me that picture!" Ino yelled as she walked away, probably to go make out with Sai behind the bleachers during practice.

Lucky bastards.

Now if only she could get _ herself_ a boyfriend. Or a date for prom. Or, hopefully, both.

She sighed.

She just _had_ to go and dump Sasuke, didn't she.

* * *

She walked through the crowded halls toward the bus circle, slipping through the groups of people standing in the middle of the hallway, (not like anybody had anywhere to, you know, go) and winced at all the PDA. Just another reminder of her nonexistent love life.

She scanned the board for her bus number (547) and groaned. Great. All the way in the back. The heat would kill her. Gravel and dirt crunched under her feet as she wrinkled her nose at the smell of exhaust fumes, looking for her bus. Ah, there it was.

She walked through the open doors and sighed at the feel of cool air. Walked down the aisle to her perfect, empty seat that she had claimed the first day of school. And stopped. And then growled at the grinning blond currently occupying _her seat_.

"Naruto, you idiot, get out of my seat. Now."

Naruto whined. " But Sakura, you _always _sit here, _alone_. Don't you want some company?" He gave her puppy eyes. Unfortunately, the effect had worn off years ago.

"If that means sharing _my _seat with the number-one idiot 'ninja', then that means no." Naruto pouted, then flared up as he realized what she had said. "Hey, I'm not an idiot ninja! I'll be the best one ever, just you watch!"

"Sure, Naruto, and I'll be a vampire, and then we can both be nonexistent beings together! And if you were a ninja, you wouldn't start off by announcing yourself as one. Now get out of my seat." Naruto sighed, got up, and was swiftly kicked into the aisle as Sakura reclaimed her seat.

He blinked and looked around for a second, and realized that all the seats had been taken up while he talked with Sakura. "Hey, there are no seats left!"

Sakura grinned deviously; time for a little match-making.

"Well, I'm sure Hinata wouldn't mind scooting over for you." Naruto blinked. "Hinata? Who's that?" Sakura rolled her eyes at Naruto's obliviousness.

"The girl sitting behind you, Naruto," _who's only been in love with you since freshman year. _"Oh!" Naruto grinned and turned around. And then his eyes widened and he blushed.

Sakura smirked; because of the sudden heat wave, today was one of the only days this year that Hinata _wasn't_ wearing a jacket, and she was blushing prettily because of the too-revealing (for her) clothes, (which were really just a pair of jeans and a modest shirt). "H-hey, do you mind if I sit with you?" Hinata gave Sakura a panicked look, and she smirked. _'Go for it, girl.' _Hinata nodded determinedly and scooted over to the window, giving Naruto a shy smile. Naruto returned it with a bright grin of his own, blushing faintly.

Sakura smirked (she seemed to be doing that a lot lately). _'Hook, line, and sinker'._

Now if only she was that awesome with her own love life.

She slipped her phone out of her pocket and put on her ear buds as she scrolled through her music, looking for a song. A small, unseen smile graced her face as she found the perfect one, and- her phone died.

_Great._

* * *

The rest of the bus ride was uneventful. Sakura said her goodbyes and thanked the bus driver as she got off.

She groaned as she realized that as her brother _apparently_ had "better things to do" and couldn't pick her up, she was going to be walking for the twenty minutes it took to walk down the street to the dead end where her house resided. With no music. In the heat.

_'Guess I better get started'._

She walked slowly, and kept under the old oak trees that shaded the road, daydreaming about ice cream and prom and the ocean.

She was still daydreaming, in fact, (of going to the beach and eating ice cream and having a reverse-harem) when she ran into her next-door neighbor's sprinklers. That was odd- the house had been empty forever. She looked down and grimaced at the water dripping off her. The last time that happened her brother had disgusted her with the fact that sprinklers used sewer water (she still didn't know if he was lying). Well, at least it cooled her off.

Shaking off the water, she noticed that there was a SOLD sign on the lawn. Sakura grinned. Looked like she was going to have a new neighbor. Hopefully it was someone nice (a young, hot, male, preferably).

She trudged up her driveway and fished her key from her key-chain, noting with surprise that her _ dear big brother _hadn't lied; his car was actually gone. Opening the door and feeling the hot, stale air, she noticed that her _dear big brother _also hadn't done the humane thing and turned on the air conditioning, or at least opened the windows.

This day just kept on getting better and better, didn't it.

She turned on the AC, took a shower, and grabbed a bowl of ice cream (strawberry, her favorite) before going to her closet and pulling out her prom dress. She admired it for a moment before she put it on, staring at her reflection in the mirror.

Smiling, she took a picture and sent it to Ino. Three seconds later her phone rang. "FOREHEAD! OH MY GOD! It's beautiful! Where'd you get it? Was there anything like it? Oh I am soooo jealous! You HAVE to help me find a dress!"

Sakura winced, her ear was starting to hurt. "Whoa, slow down there, Ino. It is gorgeous, isn't it. Do you want to go shopping Saturday?" "YES! Okay, bye, I have to go now, Shikamaru is picking me up. Love you!" She hung up.

"Love you too, pig," Sakura muttered, staring down at her phone.

* * *

Sakura looked at her clock. _'Okay, it's only 4:30, I think I have enough time to take a walk.' _

She closed her books and put her homework into her bag. Even though it was annoying when her mother nagged her and told her to go outside and go take a bike ride or something, Sakura was glad to live next to a park. It was relaxing and peaceful, just what she needed after all that homework.

She grabbed her keys and walked to the park. She would go around the lake a couple of times, she thought, and then maybe go to the dog park and see if any of the regulars were there; they always let her play with their dogs.

Unfortunately, her father was mildly allergic to fur and her mother didn't want anything that would _shed_, so that ruled out all the cute, furry animals she so wanted for a pet.

Fish were boring, and she didn't really care for reptiles; She hated snakes. Naruto had a toad, but it was rather ugly. The closest thing to a pet she had was the slugs in the backyard; they were rather cute.

Her pace quickened as she saw the corner; if she turned it she would be at the dog park, a piece of land fenced off that had various doggy things in it, a sort of playground for dogs.

She heard someone yelling, but assumed it was just someone playing with their dog, nothing important.

She was proved wrong when she turned the corner and saw something big, black and furry running towards her.

Dimly she registered a male voice yelling something like "_Shisui! No!_". She had a second to think _'I didn't know there were bears in Florida'_ before she saw black.

_This really wasn't her day, was it._

* * *

Author's Note: Okay, so this is going to be a weird little thing with no actual plot that I know of. So when I first started writing this, I was going to make it a creepy little oneshot with Sakura walking home in the dark and Itachi stalking her until he eventually sucks her blood out and she dies. And somehow, it turned into what it is now, which is definitely something different. I don't think anyone's actually done anything like this before, or if they have I haven't read it. And I don't really know how people write such long chapters; this was only a one thousand, four- something and it took me six hours, (with procrastinating and going off track-ing) to finish.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed it, and please take the time to review, even if it's nothing but (hopefully constructive) criticism!


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